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Monday, 28 November 2011

Malta's cross: the EFSF

I can't understand why Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia have agreed to contribute a pro-rata share to the EFSF

as founder countries like Germany France and the Netherlands.

Our leaders probably have no idea of what exactly they have committed our taxpayers to and why. Committing EUR 700 million to the EFSF by way of direct loans and/or guarantees is no tea party. It could ruin us.

To make matters worse it is clear to any one who has eyes to see that the EFSF will be totally ineffective to solve the Euro crisis and that the Germans, to stick to their non-sensical strictly monetarist doctrine, are bent on high leveraging the EFSF so that the risk we are exposed to will be miltiplied hundred fold. That's how high leverage works. It was the main source of the financial crisis of 2008. Bear Stearns went down because it was highly leveraged. Lehman Brothers went down because it was highly leveraged. Citibank, Dexia, Fortis and Royal Bank of Scotland had to be rescued by their respective governments because they were highly leveraged. Now the German are proposing to leverage the EFSF even though they know, or should know, that such high leverage ( and very high leverage is required if it is to cater from the bail-out of Italy) will sink the EFSF and will drive a big hole through the financials of the contributing countries.

Why do we have to contribute pro-rata like the Germans, the French and the Dutch? These founder members have allowed Greece to runaway with its debts. They looked the other way just as Greece was feasting on the cheap loans that Euro membership allowed it to raise, to finance its corruption, and the living beyond its means which was a boom for German and French exporters. We joined in 2008 and Slovakia joined even later. We were not at the party financed by Greek debt. So why should we pay like those who were at the party and rather than stop it lent more money to the Greeks so they could serve the best French champagne and drive around in luxurious Mercs and BMW's?

If you are wondering why I am not including Cyprus in our Group even though they joined in 2008 with us the reason is simple. Cyprus may soon need a bail-out so they have a vested interest to particpate to get the EFSF off the ground.

Now that there is a grave risk of the Euro falling apart and now that everybody seems to be agreeing that the EFSF mechanism is too little too late, are we going to keep our commitment till we sink with the Euro? It is time to retract!!!!

It is time to tell the German that their can be solution to the Euro crisis unless they agree that the ECB is allowed to act as a normal Central Bank for all Euro countries by acting as a lender of last resort and by ensuring that government bond yield of all Euro members bear a fair relationship to the official interest rate of the Central Bank.

This will not be a final solution. But without putting out the fire of the crisis there can be no agreement for a final solution including a common Treasury or a common debt agency and better fiscal discipline.

Only the ECB can put out the fire and the EFSF is superfluous and involves us in totally unfair and unnecessary risk.

Wake up Malta before it is too late. Don't let the Germans destroy Europe and the Euro through their false creed in narrow monetarism.

Malta should not have agreed to this. We pay taxes tru our nose and pay some of the highest rates for water and electricity in Europe and then tiny Malta has to shoulder the birden of bigger countries. Does not make sense.